With a title like that, I’ve got some explaining to do, so here goes. First off, let me start by saying that I disapprove of the military industrial complex upon which our society is built with every fiber of my being. I abhor war and everything about it, from the seizure of others’ property to the deaths of innocent children. The new lines drawn by map-makers after every “win” that separate the people from the resources necessary to survive, and force them into slavery for them—all of it.

However, being blessed, or cursed, as the case may be, with an active imagination, I’ve allowed myself to picture what the world would be like if all fighting everywhere just stopped. Tomorrow. Sure, I can picture the immensity of the peaceful relief from all the violence and insanity. It’s comforting to imagine a world in which no child’s legs are being blown off by land mines, no babies born horribly disfigured as a result of exposure to depleted uranium weapons—a world in which no mother need weep.

But the picture doesn’t stop there. If all the fighting stopped tomorrow, it would mean that the struggle for justice, for equality, for freedom from tyranny and oppression, would be over, and that all the lives sacrificed in the honorable name of dignity had been lost in vain. It would be a permanent acknowledgement that resistance is futile. World peace without justice would be as nightmarish as a world at war.

To create any kind of tolerable peace that would benefit the majority of mankind, we all of us must stand up and speak out and refuse to support injustice of any kind. We must stop our silent assent for the commission of far-off atrocities that result in our material gain. We must stop using the poor to create monsters to do our dirty work while we parade as civilized. We must stop trying to ensure our own security at the expense of the security of others.

The universe is bountiful, with resources enough for all—especially with scientific advancements. How is it that we allow them all to be owned by the greediest and most despicable? At what price have we purchased our peace?